GRADES: Sixers prevail in OT slugfest vs. Knicks

The Sixers take two against the New York Knicks this week as Ben Simmons returned to stay unbeaten against New York in a controversial, overtime thriller.

Injuries are beginning to accrue as the season wears on. Philadelphia was without Joel Embiid and Seth Curry as appears will continue to be the case for a little while despite reports of Embiid feeling “better than expected”.

The Sixers fell victim to bad luck and costly mistakes, but still managed to pull out an overtime victory in Madison Square Garden.

Regardless of injuries, the game went on. A 13-0 run by Simmons and Furkan Korkmaz, starting in place of Curry, gave Philadelphia an early lead. A Tobias Harris jumper extended the score to 17-4.

Once Harris went to the bench in the first, the offense slowed and New York crept back ending the first quarter 23-15, Philadelphia.

The second quarter started out much of the same. Philadelphia was cutting off drives from New York and finding offense with enough regularity to push away. A Simmons dunk with 4:33 remaining in the second gave Philadelphia a 41-29 lead.

After that, New York would close the quarter on a 13-2, behind anemic Philadelphia offense, ending the half with Philadelphia leading, 43-42.

Much like the first half, the third quarter was a back-and-forth affair of good defense intertwined with poor offense. New York took a lead, never extending more than four points, only to give it back in the final minute as the teams entered the fourth quarter all even at 64.

Few fairly expected this showdown to become the Alec Burks revenge game, but Burks put on a show in the fourth quarter. Burks came out firing with 5 of the team’s first six field goal attempts including the first six points in the quarter. It wasn’t until 3:45 remaining in the quarter that New York scored its second basket that wasn’t either scored or assisted by Burks.

A Barrett layup pulled New York to within one point, 83-82 with roughly three minutes remaining. A Matisse Thybulle three-pointer immediately matched by Burks was eventually followed by a Danny Green floater giving Philadelphia a three-point lead with 19 seconds remaining.

Then all chaos ensued…

Julius Randle attempted a quick two only to miss and have Harris grab the board. As he approached his foul shots, Philadelphia had a roughly 85% chance to win. Clank. Clank. He missed them both as either one would have pushed the score to a two-possession game. His next attempt, Randle didn’t miss as he buried the game-tying three with only 6 seconds remaining and the game headed to overtime.

The Burks show continued in overtime as he scored the first seven points for New York before assisting one of their only two other baskets in overtime. A Reggie Bullock three-pointer gave New York a 100-96 lead before Harris drained a three-pointer to make it a one-point game.

From there, scrums for loose balls dictated the game. Down one, ball in hand, Philadelphia gave Harris the ball. He drove early, missing the lay-in. A Simmons missed tip, a Green offensive rebound, a Milton missed lay-in, and then a controversial loose ball foul on Randle.

In the exact opposite fashion that ended regulation, Harris stepped to the line and calmly drilled both free throws giving Philadelphia the one-point lead. Randle, on his attempt to win the game, saw the ball careen around the rim before falling out. Philadelphia wins 101-100.

36 mins | 20 pts | 4 reb | 4 ast | 2 stl | 0 blk | 4 TO | 5-18 FG | 1-3 3PT| 9-11 FT | 1 PF | +0 |

Harris didn’t play a great game. By his standards this year, this was a bad game. Kudos to him for that. He still is the main offensive fulcrum for Philadelphia with Embiid out. He helped deliver the win, even if it took a little extra time.

37 mins | 16 pts | 8 reb | 4 ast | 1 stl | 1 blk | 7 TO | 8-17 FG | 0-0 3PT| 0-2 FT | 3 PF | -3 |

Simmons is noticeably trying to attack more sans Embiid. He just isn’t perfect at it. Long compared to LeBron James, he has similar characteristics, but isn’t quite the finisher in traffic as James. Simmons played fine and his defense was stellar. As Philadelphia fans, we should be okay with the results as long as Simmons is trying to be aggressive.

32 mins | 4 pts | 13 reb | 2 ast | 0 stl | 2 blk | 2 TO | 2-4 FG | 0-0 3PT| 0-0 FT | 3 PF | -2 |

Howard continues to impress with his career renaissance. Not a Howard night of old, but he still demolishes the glass (actually, better than ever) and plays decent defense. Philadelphia is holding their own in minutes without Embiid, on the road, against a playoff team. This team usually loses games because of those minutes. That isn’t the case so much this year and Howard has a lot to do with that.

29 mins | 21 pts | 3 reb | 3 ast | 1 stl | 1 blk | 2 TO | 9-15 FG | 1-3 3PT | 2-3 FT | 2 PF | +5 |

Milton has been a savior for Philadelphia. He isn’t so good yet that he does it every night. He won’t steal any DPOY votes from Simmons. Milton is supremely confident and capable of getting a bucket every time down the floor. Most teams work hard to pursue the right shot, but it is nice having a guard who can/wants to take the tough shots. There is no doubt this team would be much less threatening without Milton’s ability to score without being assisted.

28 mins | 12 pts | 0 reb | 1 ast | 2 stl | 0 blk | 0 TO | 4-9 FG | 3-8 3PT | 1-2 FT | 2 PF | -2 |

Korkmaz is the other scorer typically off the bench. Long a polarizing player amongst fans, Korkmaz has more often than not the shot when called upon. Another shooter with just enough wiggle to make the defense honest, Philadelphia is a top heavy team who knows they can’t reach their goals without Korkmaz knocking down some big shots.

New York will stay home as they host the Washington Wizards tomorrow while Philadelphia will be packing heavy. They will be flying out West as they begin a five-game road trip featuring four of the most talented Western Conference teams in the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday, followed by both LA’s, then the Denver Nuggets before ending with a pitstop in Cleveland.

Philadelphia, down two starters and heading west, will have to get strong games from the likes of Milton, Howard, and Korkmaz as they aim to retain the number one seed in the Eastern Conference.